Discoursivization and Contact-Induced Language Change

Spanish Connectives in Balearic Catalan

Bibliographic Data

ID12987482
AuthorsJames Ramsburg (0000-0003-4446-5929, University of Minnesota, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume17
Issue3
Pages471-497
Publication date2024-11-27
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Language Contact (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1955-2629 • E-ISSN: 1877-4091
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/19552629-bja10085
OpenAlexW4408182220
LanguageEN
References cited12

Borrowing can be facilitated or inhibited by linguistic constraints in language contact situations. This paper examines one such constraint: the effects of discoursivization on the usage of Spanish discourse connectives in Balearic Catalan. Using a variationist sociolinguistic analysis of conversational corpus data, this study seeks to determine the role of discourse among the social and linguistic factors that govern this contact phenomenon. The statistical findings indicate that the Spanish and Catalan discourse connectives have undergone and continue to undergo a process of discoursivization. However, this movement towards discourse does not seem to have an effect on their usage, and instead social factors are the most significant determinants affecting the use of Spanish discourse connectives in contemporary Balearic Catalan. Nonetheless, it appears that these Spanish loanwords may be falling out of use among younger speakers as a result of linguistic normalization efforts

Language change · Language contact · Linguistics · Sociology · History · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy

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